Not that we want booksellers to suffer any more than predicted this holiday season, but this site, novelaction.com, provides a great way to make sure you always have something new to read. The site is devoted to exchanging used books. Here’s how it works: You go to the site and browse through the pages and pages of available titles. Once you find a few that you want, check the boxes, and then commit to send in that same number of books. After your already-read, no-longer-needed books have been received, the new reads you want will be shipped out to you. It’s almost like a Netflix for used books. All you pay for is shipping — $4.80 for up to 12 books. Click here to see more!

Not that we want booksellers to suffer any more than predicted this holiday season, but this site, novelaction.com, provides a great way to make sure you always have something new to read. The site is devoted to exchanging used books. Here’s how it works: You go to the site and browse through the pages and pages of available titles. Once you find a few that you want, check the boxes, and then commit to send in that same number of books. After your already-read, no-longer-needed books have been received, the new reads you want will be shipped out to you. It’s almost like a Netflix for used books. All you pay for is shipping — $4.80 for up to 12 books. Click here to see more!

The new issue of Domino features a Park Slope brownstone that is so stunning it makes you think that Brooklyn is the new Paris. The home of JCrew creative director Jenna Lyons and her picture-perfect family, the meticulously updated 19th Century house is beyond gorgeous. Sure, charcoal gray walls in a nursery may not be our thing (even if they are are chalkboard paint), but lots of other touches are: family snap-shots scattered around an opulent mirror frame, mis-matched letters spelling out a child’s name over a mantle, a playful collection of mounted antlers on a wall. The crazy high ceilings with an enormous crystal chandelier? The over-sized claw-footed tub in the bedroom? The closet room? Those things, alas, we will have to save for our dreams. Click here for a video tour and three minutes of shelter fantasy.

As I have hinted, we are having a soul-seplaceing, crystal-ball-needing debate in our home: Whether to stay in our one-bedroom apartment for a few more years, or to sell now in exchange for nice-sized house right outside the city. As an 18-year NYC-er, I am really torn. An article in yesterday’s The New York Times pretty much hit the nail on head: Move Up? Move Out? Manhattan Families Squeeze In. It seems we are hardly alone in this conundrum of ours: The number of families living in one-bedroom apartments is up over 30%. For most of the country, the thought of sharing a room with our kids is preposterous. Here it is becoming a way of life. I’m still not sure what we’re going to do ourselves. At the moment, we’re cleaning and de-cluttering, which feels nice. If any of you are in the same boat (or perhaps are happy commuters who can share encouragement?), I’d love to hear from you! In the meantime, the rest of you can check out this article and chuckle over how nuts New Yorkers are. — Angela M.

As I have hinted, we are having a soul-seplaceing, crystal-ball-needing debate in our home: Whether to stay in our one-bedroom apartment for a few more years, or to sell now in exchange for nice-sized house right outside the city. As an 18-year NYC-er, I am really torn. An article in yesterday’s The New York Times pretty much hit the nail on head: Move Up? Move Out? Manhattan Families Squeeze In. It seems we are hardly alone in this conundrum of ours: The number of families living in one-bedroom apartments is up over 30%. For most of the country, the thought of sharing a room with our kids is preposterous. Here it is becoming a way of life. I’m still not sure what we’re going to do ourselves. At the moment, we’re cleaning and de-cluttering, which feels nice. If any of you are in the same boat (or perhaps are happy commuters who can share encouragement?), I’d love to hear from you! In the meantime, the rest of you can check out this article and chuckle over how nuts New Yorkers are. — Angela M.

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This is site dedicated not to homemaking, but to home loving: Decorating, cooking, entertaining, organizing, gardening and making the most out of the places we call home. Shelterrific began in 2006 ... More

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